Ratburgerhttps://www.ratburger.org
Hey, it's free.Fri, 22 Feb 2019 15:59:55 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.3Payback Timehttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/22/payback-time/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/22/payback-time/#respondFri, 22 Feb 2019 15:59:55 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19527OK, this is long, but it is funny. It uses action figures to tell a parody of an 80’s Cop Movie. It is dark, gritty, and has NSFW scenes in it. With Action figures.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/22/the-zombie-hordes-of-venice-beach-a-useful-12-minutes-of-your-time/feed/4Which Educational Research Can You Trust?https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/which-educational-research-can-you-trust/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/which-educational-research-can-you-trust/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2019 20:37:42 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19508Continue reading "Which Educational Research Can You Trust?"]]>Greg Ashman distills his wisdom on a complex topic. Is there application to fields besides education?

Probably the clearest sign that an expert knows what he or she is on about comes from the way they present their arguments. They will tend to take a position on something and they will explain how the research supports that position. However, they will also highlight the limits of the research and the common criticisms of their position, perhaps with their own answer to those criticisms. They will stay focused on the research itself and not try to support their argument by appeals to political sentiment or by attacking the character and motivations of their opponents.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/which-educational-research-can-you-trust/feed/3Troll level: Donald J Trumphttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/troll-level-donald-j-trump/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/troll-level-donald-j-trump/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2019 20:25:33 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19505https://www.donaldjtrump.com/cf
]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/troll-level-donald-j-trump/feed/7I’m a one man stink bombhttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/im-a-one-man-stink-bomb/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/im-a-one-man-stink-bomb/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2019 19:50:27 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19502No comments from Dime please. 😀 This documentary has received twelve 5 star reviews. I just posted my 2 star review.
]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/im-a-one-man-stink-bomb/feed/5Google Made a Booboohttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/google-made-a-booboo/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/google-made-a-booboo/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2019 15:49:37 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19495Continue reading "Google Made a Booboo"]]>Turns out that some Nest products have built-in microphones, which fact was only recently disclosed to users. The possibilities for abuse are endless. Looks like Bruce Schneier’s predictions, expressed in his book Click Here to Kill Everybody, are coming true. From the book’s blurb:

From driverless cars to smart thermostats, from autonomous stock-trading systems to drones equipped with their own behavioral algorithms, the internet now has direct effects on the physical world. [emphasis added]

Don’t worry, though. Google admits that not disclosing the microphone “…was an error on our part.” Rest assured they are very sorry. You’ve had a hidden microphone in your house but don’t worry; nobody was listening. Move along; nothing to see (or hear).

With operations in over 200 countries and territories, Alibaba is the world’s largest retailer and e-commerce company, one of the largest Internet and AI companies, one of the biggest venture capital firms, and one of the biggest investment corporations in the world. The company hosts the largest B2B (Alibaba.com), C2C (Taobao), and B2C (Tmall) marketplaces in the world. Its online sales and profits surpassed all US retailers (including Walmart, Amazon and eBay) combined since 2015. It has been expanding into the media industry, with revenues rising by triple percentage points year on year.

The robots, which can lift up to 500 kg, pick up densely packed bins and bring them to human pickers who place the products in boxes for shipment to customers. The robots are controlled over Wi-Fi. They say that after the 60 robots were placed into service, throughput in the warehouse has been tripled and human labour reduced by 70%.

Amazon has been running a robotics challenge to try to eliminate the human pickers. This is a video summarising the 2017 challenge in Nagoya, Japan.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/dont-drink-hot-liquids-while-watching-any-part-of-this/feed/5What’s your line?https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/whats-your-line/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/whats-your-line/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2019 11:20:08 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19477Continue reading "What’s your line?"]]>No, this is not about a game show. This is about the thickness of your pen’s line. Do you like a fine line, medium, or bold? (I know someone will say pencils are the way to go but my response to that is. Lead poisoning.) Here in the Rising Sun place it seems 0.5 mm is quite common. I just bought some 0.28 mm ones so I could write some detailed Chinese characters. Mitsubishi Pencil Uni Style Fit ones for those keeping track.

Have any of you been to a Japanese stationery store? They have some wonderful stuff. Part of this is that Japan was such a handwriting culture. To write things in such detail they needed good paper with good pens and pencils. Recently there is a trend to make your own multi-color pen by buying the refills to put into a separately bought holder.

How many of you even write by hand anymore? Is everything on a PDA/phone now?

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/whats-your-line/feed/13Hate Crime is NewSpeak; Seize Jussie Smollet’s Assetshttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/hate-crime-is-newspeak-seize-jussie-smollets-assets/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/hate-crime-is-newspeak-seize-jussie-smollets-assets/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2019 04:48:12 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19473Continue reading "Hate Crime is NewSpeak; Seize Jussie Smollet’s Assets"]]>In the “MAGA Country” story, which is now known as the Jussie Smollet story, the only hate crime committed is another defamation of the Anglosphere.

I do not like the idea of “hate crimes”. On the one hand, hate crime is to crime as social justice is to justice as hyphenated-American is to American; that is, needless and dubious subcategories detract from the ability of the main noun to convey meaning. A crime is a crime. Justice is justice.

On the other hand, hatred itself is not a crime, and neither should it be an aggravating circumstance in a crime. Each of us is welcome to hate as we please, as much as we are to love, to recall, to hope, or to decide. The freedom to hate is freedom itself. By allowing an unsubstantiated distinction to stand between allowed thoughts and forbidden thoughts, we find ourselves unable to defend free speech. How can you say what you cannot think?

But arguing to convince is useless. Only through pain will the backward and smug be forced to learn. Jussie Smollet will suffer legal penalties if convicted of a crime, but he will not be “de-platformed”, he will not be isolated or shunned, and he will not be ridiculed and vilified in the public square as he should be.

Smollet and his democrat-media complex pals are assaulting the polity, the culture, and the rule of law in this country. If he — and they — are not made to pay a price, then they have no incentive to change. They cannot be shamed into proper behavior — they can only be beaten into submission, and unlike the physical but fictional beating he claims to have received, a metaphorical but very real beating is what it takes to change the tide of proxy victimocracy swamping us.

It’s cute to be a hateful anti-white bigot. There is a convenient definition going around which states that racism is only about institutions and power, and that only white people can be racists in America; that conversely, no non-white person can be a racist. Well, this definition is wrong — naturally, non-white racists embrace this idea like Hitler clung to Eugenics. Where you sit determines where you stand, and anti-white bigots believe that they cannot be racists. Jussie Smollet is a hateful racist bigot, working to defame and demoralize a race and a culture in America.

I have no mercy for Smollet. I hate him, and believe me — it’s entirely due to the content of his character. I wish him great misfortune, and I wish to see his muses and enablers in the democrat-media complex brought low — by whatever means necessary.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/hate-crime-is-newspeak-seize-jussie-smollets-assets/feed/7Why of Coursehttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/why-of-course/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/why-of-course/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2019 04:15:19 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19470Continue reading "Why of Course"]]>The news media likes to say that college educated people skew to Democrats. This gives the impression that uneducated people are not wise enough to see their “enlightenment”. This is not the case as much as the universities are bubbles of Democrats. They are microcosms of failed policies of government largesse. It is getting to the point that “college educated” is an oxymoron.

Example: AOC

I think Peter Thiel has it right. He pays people to not go to college so they can get an education.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/21/why-of-course/feed/3ISIS Mother Pleads to Return—to Alabamahttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/isis-mother-pleads-to-return-to-alabama/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/isis-mother-pleads-to-return-to-alabama/#commentsWed, 20 Feb 2019 23:28:44 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19459Continue reading "ISIS Mother Pleads to Return—to Alabama"]]>Read this over at Ricochet and take note of the comments made by the infamous Simon Templar at #5-6. Outrageous as usual!

Best comment goes to: Rodin

She made her choice. Let her live and die by it.

In the Washington Examiner:

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State will not be allowed to return to the U.S. because she is not a citizen.

“Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States. She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States,” Pompeo said in a statement Wednesday.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/isis-mother-pleads-to-return-to-alabama/feed/4Louder with Crowder exposes Late Term Abortionhttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/louder-with-crowder-exposes-late-term-abortion/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/louder-with-crowder-exposes-late-term-abortion/#commentsWed, 20 Feb 2019 18:03:17 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19453Continue reading "Louder with Crowder exposes Late Term Abortion"]]>Steven Crowder’s show went to a clinic in Denver, Colorado. To expose how easy it is to obtain a late term abortion and the lie that only women in “duress” get late term abortions. Such as, risk to the mother’s life or fetal abnormalities are usually incidents that are put out there as reasons that late term abortions are a necessity. Well, we all know that is a lie, and this video exposes that.

It’s not a graphic video, but I will pray that Patient X changed her mind and decided not to get the abortion. I will ask that you do the same.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/louder-with-crowder-exposes-late-term-abortion/feed/15Vladimir Putin on the Deep Statehttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/vladimir-putin-on-the-deep-state/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/vladimir-putin-on-the-deep-state/#commentsWed, 20 Feb 2019 16:19:16 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19451This is an excerpt from an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro on 2017-05-30.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/vladimir-putin-on-the-deep-state/feed/2brought up on an audio meet-uphttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/brought-up-on-an-audio-meet-up/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/brought-up-on-an-audio-meet-up/#commentsWed, 20 Feb 2019 15:16:07 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19448Some time ago Boris and Natasha were brought up on an audio meetup. Finally I found a related graphic for this subject…

I reckon this is what we can expect for 2020. Since Bozo O’R said he would even tear down the existing border wall, Dems are scrambling to outdo him. I expect Spartacus or Gillibrand to appear in a life jacket, paddling a rubber raft across the Rio Grande to ferry some illegals across. I expect anyone whose skin tone allows ‘em to get away with it to adopt the cadences and idiosyncrasies of a black televangelist.

This isn’t aimed at black Americans, but at the white liberal wealthy elite who so despise their fellow white Americans.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/dat-wall-aint-goin-stop-dem/feed/3Why do we put off what we “want” to do?https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/why-do-we-put-off-what-we-want-to-do/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/why-do-we-put-off-what-we-want-to-do/#commentsWed, 20 Feb 2019 05:31:22 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19440Continue reading "Why do we put off what we “want” to do?"]]>I find life interesting. That is why I like this site so much. I was on a call talking about ewe and about good wethers. There are few places that you can talk about animal “wifery” in between the politics. (Or is the word now animal “parentry”?)

Okay, I am putting off the subject that I really want to write about. I really want to write about it but the other thing seemed more interesting. And the main subject might require work. Can we talk about bellwethers for a while?

Back to life. We seem to live in two temporal worlds. We are in the now and the preparing for the future. Our wants conflict. What we want now is different than what we want in the future. That is a poor way to put it. Our wants now conflict with the wants in the future. For example if we want to be slim we can’t eat anything we want now. But people do and still say they want to be slim. Can one really be honest and say you want something while one is doing the opposite of the things to get it?

Getting to the title, it seems we like to put off things that are productive. We wait as if more time makes things better. Deadlines are our lifelines to get some things done. They force us often to do things we want to do but would rather put off. Good people know when they are saying I want X in the future means I give up Y in the present. They order their wants. Do you do this? How do you handle wants?

Hey, I am at the end of my post. That wasn’t too painful, was it?

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/20/why-do-we-put-off-what-we-want-to-do/feed/15Punchedhttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/punched/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/punched/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2019 22:45:38 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19434Continue reading "Punched"]]>It’s all fun to laugh at the Commiecrat clown car, but we could well get slaughtered in 2020. Trump’s greatest strength in 2016 was the fact that he could never ever be elected. Now that’s old news, and the much-heralded Democrat civil war may serve just to energize all sectors of the left. Do not expect one stripe of Democrat to stay home just because a different stripe gets the nod. That’s an old Republican trick.

All the left has to do is not step on the rake too many times *in a manner which hurts them* between now and the 202 election. And the things we point out as harmful to the left typically don’t actually hurt the left. Not on election day.

Finally, let’s assume that the House can pass articles of impeachment on whatever flimsy justification they wish. That now puts Trump’s fate in the hands of the Senate, held by a thin margin on a broad base of RINOs who would rather see Trump dead than win a vote.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/punched/feed/14A Study in Fake Newshttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/a-study-in-fake-news/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/a-study-in-fake-news/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2019 22:08:12 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19432Continue reading "A Study in Fake News"]]>A friend and former colleague sent me a link to the following brief article: A Strong Start to Sierra Snowpack. It purports to be a factual report of the water situation in California. Such stories are always interesting for the things they leave out: the dog that didn’t bark.

Start with the title. Since the snowpack is already above the normal peak, which is referenced to April (seasonal peak), it would be more accurate to say that the snowpack is already well above average for the whole season though it’s still only February. That’s more than a strong start. Furthermore, though the 2017-2018 year was below average, the prior year was well above average. Together, they were about average.It is in the nature of snowfall to fluctuate from year to year.

Next, the article states that “…most of the reservoirs are already more than half-full, and several have water levels that are above the historical average for the middle of February.” It would be more accurate to write that all the reservoirs but one are at or above the historical average for February. The exception is Oroville, which is low because of a major structural failure two years ago. Furthermore, all of the reservoirs are more than half full, which is also misleading because it’s not normal for them to ever be full. Should they ever be almost full, the headline would be “Reservoirs Nearly Full: Flooding Crisis Looms” since they would need to release large amounts of water, which could raise downstream rivers to flood stage.

This 300-word article manages to pack in a tremendous amount of misinformation, brought to you by NASA. This brings to mind the Gell-Mann amnesia effect, or in more modern parlance, fake news. Also relevant is Mencken’s observation that

Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.

I would only change the last half to read “…the whole aim of practical media is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”

He has a Senate who is owned by the Chamber of Commerce and Democrats who ae owned by Big Tech who want outsourcing of all skilled jobs.

This fight is nowhere near over. We have Trump and they have trillions of dollars at stake. If this fails, it will be civil war or submission for most of us.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/punch-counter-punch/feed/10Fundraiser at Bernie’shttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/fundraiser-at-bernies/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/fundraiser-at-bernies/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2019 13:15:32 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19424Bernie Sanders is in the 2020 election. I am looking forward to the debates.

Will Biden enter?

Who is your dream Democratic candidate? Maxine Waters?

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/fundraiser-at-bernies/feed/26Magnificent Interview of the Spectacular Lara Logan — UPDATED LINKhttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/magnificent-interview-of-the-spectacular-lara-logan/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/magnificent-interview-of-the-spectacular-lara-logan/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2019 05:40:51 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19412Continue reading "Magnificent Interview of the Spectacular Lara Logan — UPDATED LINK"]]>Many of us are most familiar with Lara Logan from her stint as a correspondent for CBS news, during which she was subjected to a horrific attack in Egypt. So much for that. In this interview, which could serve as a coda for her life should she slack off and not get her books written, you see the sort of ruthless, dedicated professional she is. Almost throwaway lines:

The Obama withdrawal did more damage than the invasion of Iraq

The US is currently negotiating its surrender in Afghanistan

Going on camera at CNN is “pretending to be an expert”

Logan doesn’t pull any punches, and she doesn’t watch her language — truth may be like that, and the pursuit of it most definitely does not favor the squeamish. There is a story behind this interview, which creeps in at the edges and at the end. The interview itself is an exemplar of long-form, informative discourse. So how did this wind up on YouTube? Well, it’s the video shoot of a podcast session. Audio for the win. But I have to say I appreciate the video.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/magnificent-interview-of-the-spectacular-lara-logan/feed/7David Brooks the Pathetic Boy-Child Wants Government to Do Everything, Gets Schooled by Milton Friedmanhttps://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/david-brooks-the-pathetic-boy-child-want-government-to-do-everything-schooled-by-milton-friedman/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/david-brooks-the-pathetic-boy-child-want-government-to-do-everything-schooled-by-milton-friedman/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2019 04:44:19 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19408Continue reading "David Brooks the Pathetic Boy-Child Wants Government to Do Everything, Gets Schooled by Milton Friedman"]]>Imagine my shock at recognizing David Brooks in all of his trademark drooling, slobbering appreciation of big government in this video of Milton Friedman with a round table of “students”. Imagine my utter lack of shock as I recognized the larval stage of the Obama sycophant house “conservative” of the New York Times.

I recall debates at the other site with people who wanted to tell me that Brooks was the real thing, conservative, and so forth. Never. Not for a day:

I guess we should feel sorry for Smollet. The poor little bozo is obviously an under-developed personality. Did he think the producers of Empire would be so impressed with the notoriety he was attempting to create that they’d write his character back in? Does it ever work that way?

But I guess, if something good comes out of it…..like, Harris and Spartacus introducing anti-lynching legislation! I mean, thank God— I’m shocked to learn that lynching isn’t already illegal! (Oh, wait…..)

Of course the Left, which made a huge deal of the story when it served as an indictment of anyone who voted for Trump, has now switched to indicting Trump supporters for even paying attention to the fact that it was a hoax!

Can anybody name one anti-black policy Trump has promoted since his election? One anti-gay policy? Any anti-black or homophobic sentiments or slogans being chanted at any of his rallies?

Doesnt matter! This kind of incident exposes the Deplorables for who they really are!

Yes indeed it does: we Deplorables are the Americans who, along with our standard-bearer, have been falsely and tirelessly maligned and mischaracterized by the media, by Hollywood, by the Demoncrats.

Shame, shame, shame. Just like Tawana Brawley, the grandmother of them all, Smollett has smeared himself with excrement and everybody on the Left reeks of it.

]]>https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/fake-noose/feed/6What makes this song great?https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/what-makes-this-song-great/
https://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2019/02/19/what-makes-this-song-great/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2019 03:22:40 +0000https://www.ratburger.org/?p=19402I was kind of feeling down this evening, but the following video brought a smile to my face and lightened my mood a little…one of the last gems from a dying culture. Enjoy.